


The Art of Convincing

by Restored_Azure



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 00:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Restored_Azure/pseuds/Restored_Azure
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ivan receives a piece of paper from Alfred, his former rival. It's filled with a bunch of math symbols and equations that he just doesn't understand what it's all supposed to mean. The other tries to explain.</p><p>Human A.U University drabble. Alfred is a professor for theoretical mathematics and Ivan's an undefined science professor (honestly I don't know what to say about him).  Kind of silly, cheesy and fluffy?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Convincing

**Author's Note:**

> I was doing some discrete mathematics review and there was this quote in my textbook. And for some odd reason I got super-inspired to write a Human. AU! RusAme drabble. Weird right? I doubt there's even any math that can even be used like this. 
> 
> Enjoy :) ?

_Such, then is the whole art of convincing. It is contained in two principles: to define all notations used, and to prove everything by replacing mentally the defined terms by their definitions._

**-Blaise Pascal**

 

It was only scribbles. Symbols that were hashed together in equations that didn't make sense to him. Well, some of it looked familiar, their subjects of expertise did have slight overlap but not really. What the clumsy scrawl was translated into meant nothing to him. Not to his mind and not to his heart. Why the other had been so clearly embarrassed to give it to him was a beyond anything reasonable.

 

The mystery itself intrigued him. He had already gone over to the campus library, where he had pulled out a thick book of mathematical definitions in search of the answers. The man had scanned through the heavy pages. However, all the explanations had been covered under a whole slew of theories and even more incomprehensible jargon.

 

It disappointed him. In that moment, he wondered if it was merely a mocking joke, an odd indirect insult to his intelligence. He thought about crumpling it up to ignore that the piece of paper had ever existed. Let the other laugh away. He would not give into furthering the other's entertainment. A tiny bit of him was sad. He thought that they were over this.

 

However, another part of him nagged him to keep the symbols of code and mathematics. And so he tucked it away in his binder's pocket.

 

“So what did you think?”

 

The eager face looked up at him with an expectancy that he was not prepared for. The rest of yesterday had passed mundanely and he would have forgotten about the paper, had Alfred not visited him the very next morning. Those bright blue eyes shined with such enthusiasm to understand the world, yet captured a hidden world of their own, that Ivan stared more than he should have.

 

Ivan cleared his throat. He turned away from those ever-gazing eyes and straightened his lecture notes.   

 

“If you wanted to tell me something, then I have not understood,” he replied plainly.

 

Disappointment flickered on the other’s face and he bit his lip, “What didn't you get?”

 

Ivan sighed and pulled out the piece of paper, “This is filled with symbols that I do not know. If you are implying that you are more knowledgeable than me on the subject, then you have simply stated the obvious. If you wished to flaunt that fact over me, then I do not understand what you want me to say.”

 

Alfred grabbed at the paper that Ivan had been waving around as he spoke. He gave it a glance. “Oh...um…”There was a blush. “I guess I forgot to tell you what these equations show and stuff. I just kind of started scribbling it all down like I was on a totally great genius streak...guess I forgot. Um...Hey, can I give you the definitions tomorrow?”

 

“Do not waste time,” Ivan muttered and braved eye-contact again, “You can just tell me now what you want from me.”

 

There was a sigh, heavy and tired, as if burden had perched itself on Alfred’s shoulders, “No...I can’t.”

 

And so the incessant visiting occurred every day after that. Ivan found the visits very amusing, to say the least. The other had once been a great rival, as they both clashed for various reasons, so this was such a huge change. Last year, it had been the talk of the University campus for months. Lately though, now that the hated heat from their rivalry lessened, the other had grown distant.

It was almost as if the younger one had decided to avoid him. It had actually been a surprise that Alfred had come over that first day. Yet, here he was, with Ivan, explaining every little detail daily and what it implied mathematically. At least, on the days that both of them weren't completely on a different tangent ~~mainly because of Alfred~~.

They were acting like the closest of friends. The next few weeks, Ivan would find him popping in more often. Soon enough, it was not only in the morning but also at lunch. Eventually, it escalated to saying goodbye at the end of the day. Each passing moment with the other, made Ivan feel very content and relaxed. Part of Ivan's mind demanded with paranoid suspicion for an explanation but another part shushed that away, demanding to be let this chance to enjoy the company. He only wanted to feel the presence of the bright sun a little longer.

 

Then, finally, the last bit was defined. Alfred looked at him with his wide grin, like he had just finished telling him that he made the greatest discovery ever, something earth shattering. The Russian felt so warm in that gaze and quickly looked away to the board, not wishing to give himself away.

 

“So, what do you think now?”

 

After all the definitions, the explanations, the bits, Ivan looked back again at the board where it was written. Yes, it made sense to him. Everything logically followed and flowed into each other. In some way, it did seem brilliant. Yet, he still didn’t understand the purpose. As he looked over to the other man, that energized face with the warm summer-sun hair and bright eyes, he had to be honest.

 

“It is a very impressive proof. I cannot see anything wrong with it. Is it for some important math paper? I am sure people will be very convinced.”

 

It took a long moment for Alfred to respond. A small muttered yeah, sure. The shine in those deep blue eyes dulled. Then, Alfred left without saying another word, not even a goodbye.

 

Softly the door closed. Ivan felt instantly hurt and guilty. What had he done? What was the other man trying to do? Why did his heart hurt faintly?

 

He had always admired the other. He was very bright and at such a young age to boot. There was something captivating about the way the other smiled, something warming. Alfred connected with people, his students and other teachers in a remarkable magnetic way. He was always reacting in the most expressive and oddest manners. The way the other spoke about math or the latest action thriller movie or simply laugh at a lame math pun he made, all of it drew you in.

 

Now that the other was gone, Ivan was more confused than ever, even before he had received the mysterious paper. Why hadn’t the other just give him a list of the definitions. Why come over and explain each little detail like a mini lesson? Why even bother him with such things?

 

Ivan sighed. That American had always been the single most confusing thing in his entire life. His actions were seemingly random and sometimes he wondered about what went on in the other man's brain. Ivan would never understand it...not really...as he was almost fooling himself to believe these past weeks.

 

Slowly he walked over to his desk. He picked up the notes he had ended up writing down for himself, because the other had never done it while explaining. He flipped through them and looked at the board. Back and forth, he switched between the two. Ivan hummed.

 

That symbol. There. That’s why he didn’t get it. This one thing was popping up all over the place. It stuck out like a sore thumb and didn’t belong with anything else. In fact, it didn’t even look like a math symbol more like a funny flower doodle. Narrowing his eyes, he searched harder through all of his pages. Surely, because it had come up so often, he had already asked. Surely, he hadn’t been that distracted.

 

On the last page, it was finally there. Tiny and almost afraid of being seen, it hid safely within the margin. It was not in his writing. No, it was in Alfred’s. The other had added it at one point without him noticing.

 

It only had a name. The Ivan constant.

 

Baffled by this realization, he looked back up. Slowly he replaced all the codes with the definitions again. For the first time, he looked not at the parts individually but as a whole. Instead of looking at it as a math to prove numbers, he treated the words like some sort of poem. What seemed like mathematical babble was soon replaced by sentences. His jaw dropped as he read over the conclusion, the very thing it was trying to prove.

 

He ran out the door. How had it gone right past him? That idiot...that brilliantly shining idiot.

 

Bam! He barged into the American’s office and the other man nearly fell out of his rolling chair, startled out of whatever thoughts he had been in. There was a quick slap of a smile on his face...but his body told a different story.

 

Ivan panted, out of breath, as he spoke, “Your proof...has a...lot of unnecessary work.”

 

Alfred gave a small shrug and turned his back away, “Yeah, dumb right? Just forget about-”

 

“No!” Ivan interrupted and walked towards the desk. He pulled on Alfred’s shoulder and turned him around. “It’s ingenious. It simply made one unnecessary assumption.”

 

Confusion took over Alfred’s face, “What?” His head turned upwards to Ivan overhead.

 

Ivan took in a deep breath of courage. His lips gave a small peck on Alfred’s lips. “You assumed you had to convince me to love you.”

 

A cute blush spread on Alfred’s face, as it had on that first day. His sky-blue bright eyes were wide with surprise. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, completely speechless. Then, after a few silent minutes, he spoke with a wide shameless grin as he stared straight into the other's eyes, “Dude, that was super cheesy.”

 

Ivan pulled his face back, crossed his arms and gave the other an incredulous look, “And writing a confession through a mathematical proof isn’t?” His own face had begun to also slightly blush.

 

Alfred stood up and walked around his desk. He leaned back and sighed with relief. “I honestly did that by mistake…” His normally loud voice was surprisingly sheepish for the moment. That happy grin refused to go away nevertheless.

 

“You wrote a mathematical proof by _mistake_?”

 

“I was nervous okay!” Alfred said, “I just wanted to tell you and I couldn’t find the right words to say and Arthur’s books were no help and everyone sucks at advice and I wanted it to be super amazingly romantic and I thought I should just start writing and-.”

 

Ivan rolled his eyes. Only Alfred. He thought back to the conclusion written on his board. He pulled the other closer to him, “It worked.”


End file.
